In
Clark v. Cache
Valley Electric Co. (10th Cir., July 25, 2014), the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a federal district court had properly dismissed a gender discrimination and retaliation claim brought by a Utah employee of Cache Valley Electric. The employee claimed that a supervisor was favoring an employee who had allegedly been in a previous sexual relationship with the supervisor. The Tenth Circuit noted that "[f]avoritism of a paramour is not gender discrimination." Although such relationships can give rise to gender discrimination claims, the Court explained that to establish such a claim there must be evidence of gender bias generally, emphasizing the that "the preferential treatment [in this case extended only] to
one female employee." (Emphasis in original.)
